Scrumptious Tea

Michal, Tonja and I had an intensive baking session starting at 10am and ending at around 10pm. We made bread, a unique battenberg cake, macarons, opera cake, maids of honour tarts, apple tart, cookies... it was a total feast! My kitchen didn't know what had hit it as we had several things on the go simultaneously and took it in turn to use the KitchenAid mixer, which was having its own baptism by fire. I realize that I need to buy certain things like a professional rolling pin and a nice slab of marble on which to roll out pastry and keep everything cool. I'm learning so much from diving in and baking all kinds of things I would never have thought of a few months ago. Michal is very encouraging and he obviously loves baking as he joined us in his spare time outside of his busy job as a chef.

There was quite a serious blip half way through the day. Michal suddenly announced that the fan oven seemed to have gone rather quiet and, with most of the cakes ready and waiting for their space in the oven, it had indeed stopped... PANIC! WHAT TO DO? Keep calm and carry on of course and ask around my neighbours  to see if anyone could help. We had a giggle transporting trays of batter up and down the stairs and next door to my neighbours Joel and Julian who stepped into the breach and offered up their oven. Fortunately I discovered that the bottom oven still worked so we managed to utilize that and bake some of the remaining cakes there. Actually it was a perfect way to get to know my neighbours and the next day with so much cake on the table I arranged a tea party for everyone and we had a very jolly time. Tonja's macarons were a big hit and the opera cake was sublimely delicious and lasted for days... My bid for glory came in the form of the battenberg cake which was a huge version of the usual one and was very satisfying to make. Michal insisted that we make our own marzipan and I have to say it tasted wonderful.